Chapter Nine Lily
CHAPTER NINE
Lily
A fter my embarrassing incident, I want to avoid Last Call, but I couldn’t turn down Dahlia and Julian when they invited me out for drinks. It’s hard enough to share some quality time with my sister, so I’d rather take advantage of the opportunities I do have.
I haven’t had a chance to talk to her about Lavender Lane or the NDA yet since she’s been busy and out of town, and because I can’t exactly open up about it in the middle of a crowded bar, I’ll have to pretend nothing is wrong.
How very on-brand for me lately.
Once Julian returns with our mocktails and takes a seat next to Dahlia, she starts talking about the gallery idea for the Pressed Petal.
“I’m thinking sleek, modern frames with some good backlighting to showcase the art.” She pulls out her phone so Julian can see the mock-up.
“Looks easy enough,” he replies before taking a pull from his beer bottle. “Although I think the art should be suspended from the ceiling rather than hung on the wall. That way people will have a three-sixty view of the piece.”
Her face lights up. “Good idea! But wouldn’t it weigh too much?”
He scratches his jaw while considering it. “We can add some extra support beams and drill into them.”
I hear the faint sound of a cash register in the distance, getting louder with every one of Dahlia and Julian’s expensive ideas.
“Maybe we should stick to hanging them from the walls,” I offer.
“Do you not like Julian’s suggestion?” she asks without any judgment.
“Depends on if it fits within my budget.”
Julian leans back in his chair with a smile. “We told you not to worry about that.”
“And I told you that I wanted to do this on my own.”
To some, it might seem silly to reject a billionaire’s offer, but I’ve spent my life watching Julian, Rafa, Dahlia, and my mom become successful, self-made entrepreneurs.
I’ve witnessed firsthand how much time and energy they put into achieving their goals, and I want to do the same, even if it takes me longer to accomplish mine.
Dahlia swallows a sip of her drink. “We’ll run the numbers and make sure to stick to the budget you gave us.” She turns to look at Julian. “How long would it take you to do all the lighting?”
He is cut off by the last person I expect to show up. “Julian.”
No .
Julian twists his torso in the direction of the smooth voice I’d recognize anywhere. “Lorenzo.”
“Dahlia.” Lorenzo dips his head before tilting it in my direction. “Lily.” He says my name with a hint of a sexy rasp.
I nod before taking a sip of my water. When I look up from the table, I find a few people glancing in our direction.
Great .
Julian gets right to the point. “What do you want?”
“I was hoping we could talk about the endorsement you promised.”
“I’m a little busy right now,” he replies.
“What endorsement is he talking about?” Dahlia asks with a furrow between her brows.
“An unimportant one,” Julian mutters under his breath.
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Lorenzo taunts before looking over at Dahlia. “Julian is speaking at a fundraiser event for my charity.”
“I wasn’t aware you had one,” Dahlia replies.
Lorenzo steps closer to my chair, so his arm ends up brushing against mine. “It’s still pretty new. I started Healing Hearts over two years ago.”
“What’s it for?”
“Supporting families affected by drunk drivers.”
My sister’s eyes soften. “That’s a great cause.”
Our town hasn’t faced many tragedies, so everyone knows about how Lorenzo’s parents died in a hit-and-run accident. While the other driver was never found, could they have been drinking? If so, how did they get away?
Lorenzo’s next comment snaps me out of the thought. “I’m surprised Julian didn’t mention anything since he’s a guest of honor.”
A few days ago, Julian was giving me a hard time about Lorenzo fixing my car, only to become his guest of honor ?
“Since when do you support Lorenzo?” My tone reeks of annoyance. I should be happy because a Lopez endorsement could go a long way for Lorenzo’s campaign, but I’m too irritated to think about the bigger picture right now.
Especially after Lorenzo’s confession the other night about the Eros app.
“Rafa asked me for a favor, so I had no choice but to agree to Lorenzo’s endorsement request,” Julian answers.
I pause at his phrasing. “Must’ve been one hell of a favor since you’re deathly afraid of public speaking.”
Julian sinks deeper into his chair, giving me nothing but anxiety to go off.
Lorenzo takes a seat on the empty barstool next to mine and casually wraps his arm around the back of my chair like we do this all the time—a move Julian takes note of immediately.
Before anyone can comment on it, Lorenzo states, “Rafa came to me for help, and I delivered, so that’s all that matters.”
“Couldn’t you have helped him for free?” I ask, somewhat snippy.
“That would require a conscience, and Lorenzo was born without one.” Julian smirks.
“I’m sure Lily would disagree with you.” Lorenzo turns to hit me with an incriminating smile. “Especially after what happened the other night?” He teases the end of my ponytail as he winds a strand around his finger.
What is going on here? Speaking at the adoption event is one thing, but touching me like this in front of everyone?
Did he get abducted by aliens? If so, how do I convince them to take him back?
Julian’s brows crinkle as his dark gaze swings toward me. “What’s he talking about?”
“What happened while we were gone?” Dahlia asks at the same time.
I could strangle Lorenzo for the chaos he is causing, but my expression doesn’t reflect my innermost thoughts. “Nothing important.”
“On the contrary, I take Lily’s health very seriously.” He pushes my cup of water closer to me.
I respond by kicking my foot out. I aim for the leg of his chair, but I accidentally hit his shin instead. Oops.
“One kind act doesn’t make you a hero,” I reply with a tight smile.
“So you admit I’m kind.”
“Only on rare occasions when it benefits you.”
“In what way did you puking all over my Ferragamos benefit me?”
My sister’s mouth falls open. “Wait. She what ?”
“There’s a reason Lily skipped out on her regular passion-fruit vodka seltzer tonight.” Lorenzo has the audacity to look concerned over my health.
My head is reeling from this conversation and Lorenzo’s proximity. If I wasn’t stone-cold sober, I’d question how much I had to drink.
Not enough to make it through whatever he has planned.
For the life of me, I can’t make sense of what changed since the Last Call incident, but I need to think fast, and I need to do it right now before Lorenzo gets too bold.
“I had too much to drink, and Lorenzo offered to drive me home. I ended up feeling sick during the car ride, and the rest is too embarrassing to talk about.”
Julian makes a noise of discontent. “I’m not sure what disappoints me more: you getting drunk enough to think Lorenzo driving you home was a good idea, or you not getting sick inside his car.”
Lorenzo’s smile drops. “I’d never take advantage of her or any other woman, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”
Something in my stomach flutters, and I wish I could crush the butterflies with my fist.
Julian shrugs. “ You said it, not me.”
Dahlia crosses her arms. “Am I the only one confused about what’s going on here?”
I’m about to add my two cents when Lorenzo speaks up. “Now that everyone knows about Lily’s and my relationship, I thought there was no point in hiding it anymore.”
Dahlia’s mouth falls open. “Your what ?”
“Friendship,” I correct, although it kills me to suggest such a thing.
My sister doesn’t look happy at the word. “You two are…friends? Since when?”
Great question I’d love to know the answer to.
Lorenzo doesn’t look too pleased at my save, but too freaking bad.
“I don’t believe it,” Julian scoffs.
I’m relieved once Lorenzo turns his attention away from my face and looks over at Julian. “Well, you didn’t want to believe me when I told you Santa wasn’t real either, so I’m not surprised.”
I blink twice, and Julian’s face turns red in an impressive five seconds flat.
Dahlia bursts out laughing. “Hold on. Is that the real reason why you hate Lorenzo?”
“No. It’s one of many.” Julian’s posture turns rigid.
“What happened?” she asks. “I thought this was all because he wanted to buy a house you liked.”
“ Houses ,” Julian grumbles. “He tried multiple times.”
“Only because you made it impossible to get a single one of my offers accepted,” Lorenzo replies.
Their dislike for one another stems deeper than just one misunderstanding, right? It has to, or else I’ll never let Julian live this grudge down.
“You could’ve paid more for a house,” Julian snaps back.
“I wasn’t interested in participating in your billionaire pissing contest.”
“From what I heard on the news, you aren’t one anyway.”
Lorenzo smirks. “Keeping tabs on me?”
“More like I’m invested in your downfall.”
“You are aware I’m still worth a quarter of a billion, right?”
I choke on my drink because no, I didn’t. Obviously, Lorenzo still has money despite quitting his job at Vittori Holdings and selling his shares, but I didn’t realize he had that much.
“Did you selling your shares have something to do with the company’s value tanking from your poor decisions as the director of operations, or was it because you were jealous that your cousin replaced you?” Julian’s chair creaks as he leans forward.
Lorenzo laughs. “Me jealous of my cousin? He is the one who wishes he was me because unlike him, I had the courage to walk away from everything.”
Acid churns in my belly at Lorenzo’s candidness.
Julian raises his brow. “You couldn’t keep your emotions out of business decisions? That doesn’t sound like a trait we need in our future mayor.”
“Julian,” I reply with a hiss, directing my frustration at him. “Enough.”
“?Dije algo mal?” I He tries to look apologetic, but it fails to work on me.
“?Puedes tratar de comportarte bien?” II
“él empezó.” III He huffs.
“Tienes treinta y un anos, por el amor de Dios. No te comportes así.” IV
Lorenzo smirks as he replies in Spanish, “Treinta y uno y todavía molesto conmigo por lo de Papá Noel.” I
Lorenzo speaking Spanish was not on tonight’s bingo card—that’s for sure.
“You speak Spanish?” Dahlia’s mouth remains wide open.
“Surprise.” Lorenzo arches a brow at my sister. “And yes, I’ve heard you and Julian talk shit about me before.”
Julian grumbles something under his breath.
Dahlia glances between them both. “So, can we get back to the important subject here?”
“Yes,” I add. “Who’s going to explain the Santa thing?”
“It’s stupid,” Julian mutters.
Lorenzo shakes his head. “Is it? Because you’re still holding it against me to this day.”
Dahlia and I both wait for one of them to explain.
Julian takes the initiative. “Lorenzo thought it would be a great idea to ruin Christmas for our soccer team when we were little.”
On the Eros app, Lorenzo mentioned playing soccer when he was in elementary school, but I didn’t connect him playing on the same team as Julian until now.
“You two played soccer together?” I ask.
“Not for long. Lorenzo got booted after the whole Santa scandal. Apparently selfish assholes shouldn’t be allowed to participate in team sports.”
Lorenzo shrugs. “With how much you all sucked, it was a blessing in disguise.”
“We were eight .”
“Excuses, excuses.”
“Will you two ever get bored of antagonizing each other?” my sister asks.
“No,” they both say at the same time.
Dahlia laughs. “Right. Just checking.”
“But for Lily’s sake, I’m willing to put our past aside.” Lorenzo looks over at me, his dark eyes full of mischief.
“Can we have a quick chat in private?”
Lorenzo slides off the barstool before making a show of pulling mine out. “Lead the way.”